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Dry and cloudless weather was mainly responsible for the unusually high solar irradiance in western Europe during the spring of 2020, not the reduction in aerosol emissions due to the first lockdown. This was the result of an international meteorological study, in which scientists from the University of Cologne participated. The results have been published in the current issue of
Nature Communications Earth & Environment.
A large part of western Europe experienced exceptionally sunny and dry weather from March 23 to the end of May 2020. New sunshine extremes were reported in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, coupled with exceptionally deep blue skies. At the same time, these countries had gone into lockdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The hypothesis was that higher solar irradiance at the Earth s surface was caused by reduced emissions of aerosols from industry and traffic.
New clues in hiking disaster that spawned numerous conspiracy theories
Daniel Martins
Thursday, February 4th 2021, 2:00 pm - The 1959 incident is infamous for both the lack of clues to its cause, and the bizarre impacts on its Russian victims.
Hikers and skiers sometimes get lost in the mountains. Sometimes they don’t make it back alive. It’s a fate most lovers of the backcountry strive to avoid, but consider a plausible, if avoidable, risk.
But one case, the Dyatlov Pass Incident of 1959, was so peculiar, and marked by details that ranged from puzzling to gruesome, that it’s since fuelled numerous conspiracy theories – though new research released this week by scientists in Switzerland suggests the explanation may be very simple.